----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter R." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "WISPA General List" <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2007 9:48 AM
Subject: Re: [WISPA] Muni networks, the good, bad and ugly
Mark,
How does YOUR view address the real competition that towns have to attract
new business?
Bad roads? That's everywhere.
Lousy schools? Uh, again everywhere.
Hmmm, all government run functions. Another argument agains goverment
broadband networks! hehehehe
But you can't fix either without a tax base and a working (paycheck
collecting) community.
Too true. Ferry county up around me had (has?) an ecconomy almost entirely
based on logging. When we decided that Spottel Owls are more important than
people something like 40 or 50% of the county was out of business in a few
years. They are still a mess up there over a decade later. They do have
broadband to some areas but that's not fixed the problems with the job/tax
base. They've asked for help in getting broadband rolled into more areas,
but there aren't enough customers for me to be able to even break even on a
deployment. The government, PUD, etc. don't have the funds to build it
either. It's a very nasty catch 22.
Again, broadband would certainly not hurt anything up there. But where it
is available it's still not fixed the problems that they have.
Many companies tele-source call center jobs. But not without BB.
Medical, Legal, and Court Transcriptionists - all home based, good paying
jobs that require BB.
Yeah. I don't see enough of those jobs to have large impacts on most
communities though. We have ONE medical transcriptionist in our town of
1000. Sure it's nice that she can work from home via mp3 files (what's
hippa's impact on that model though?).
I think we will see a big trend in home based businesses or employment in
the coming years though. Why should a company need as many desks,
computers, toilets etc. etc. etc. as they do? Pay someone enough to buy a
computer for home, fund a (cheap) broadband connection then pay them based
on production rather than attendance.
Know what I'd love to see? Lots of people working from home, using the
information highways instead of the brick and morter highways. Working for
several companies at a time, as independant contractors. Then if one of the
companies you work for goes under, you'll still have a job! Or jobs.
We have people around here doing a lot of things via our network. We have
people earning money on ebay. We have people saving money on ebay. We have
people working from home instead of down at the insurance office (part time
in each local at least). I do work all over the world via email and voip.
I have contact with customers and friends that I could never effectively do
without broadband.
It's natural for people to want to control their own day. The "job" is a
pretty new thing. It used to be that a person was an apprentice then went
out and opened up his own shop. People's worth wasn't determined by one
manager, it was determined by many customers. I believe that the internet
will allow people to go back to that way of life again.
Granted I live in Tampa, but I have lived in NC and CT as well.
Cities and towns are struggling to compete for stores and jobs with not
just other cities and towns but other nations.
Nothing new in that world eh? I think it's always been that way.
Heck, look at the interestate freeway system. If they'd have done it right
they'd have just stuck a ruler on the map and made the roads connect the
largest cities in the country. Instead they detoured through towns all over
the place, sometimes bypassing bigger ones for smaller ones, for what
reason???? Why does I-90 run through Ellensburg vs. Wenattchee?
Spokane to Seattle runs right over the top of Wenattchee....
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&z=7&ll=46.912751,-119.630127&spn=5.110709,9.63501&om=1
It often seems to be more about politics than it does the people who are
supposed to be helped.
marlon
- Peter
Mark Koskenmaki wrote:
----- Original Message ----- From: "Peter R." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "WISPA General List" <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2007 6:13 AM
Subject: Re: [WISPA] Muni networks, the good, bad and ugly
There are numerous studies that demonstrate that towns that lack
broadband are economically deficient compared to towns with broadband.
Job growth, tax base increase, home value stability, higher per capita
income.
The economic deficiency drives the lack of broadband, not the other way
around.
You can't raise the dog to life by wagging it's tail.
I live in one of those towns, and have many of them in the region
surrounding me. Broadband is not the issue. The economic conditions
are
driven ENTIRELY by other factors. Just like poor roads don't help, a
lack
of connectivity may be some hindrance, but building a superhighway to a
depressed community will simply NOT create magic. Broadband brought
to
these places may have some neglible impact, but the lack is not the
cause
of economic problems, nor will provisioning it "fix" things.
Unfortunately, too many people are riding this train. Politicians are
holding it out as a "fix" ( BB access has never hurt a town's economy,
of
course) for things when it isn't, and lots of businessmen are exploiting
that for thier own pocketbooks. The people who are being sold this are
the
unwitting victims. They need real solutions to other real problems,
and
ignoring them and offering fashionable modern services as a fix is a red
herring...
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
neofast.net - fast internet for North East Oregon and South East
Washington
email me at mark at neofast dot net
541-969-8200
Direct commercial inquiries to purchasing at neofast dot net
--
Regards,
Peter Radizeski
RAD-INFO, Inc. - NSP Strategist
We Help ISPs Connect & Communicate
813.963.5884 http://www.marketingIDEAguy.com
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